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Alexander Technique and Fibromyalgia ~ my experience

The Alexander Technique & Fibromyalgia
My Experience
Alana Cox

I discovered the Alexander Technique after 25 years of seeking relief from chronic pain. I had been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and suffered from injuries received in a car accident.  I sought relief through traditional medicine, chiropractors and nearly every form of alternative health care.   I realized from the first time I read about the Alexander Technique and again after my first lesson that I had discovered a valuable tool to help myself where no one else could.  Like a magnet I was drawn to it. In my quest to relieve chronic pain I had also found my passion in life.  I took AT lessons from various teachers for 3 years, completed the 3 year teacher training program, a year internship and two years as a post graduate at the Alexander Technique Center of New England (ATCNE).  The process was a hard one for me.  Never having been a really good student I felt learning impaired. But enough insight trickled down to keep me focused, interested and committed. Through all this training I suffered much frustration and sometimes felt disillusioned with the slow sometimes traumatic process and from the Fibromyalgia fog I lived in.   

After graduation from teacher training, my first goal was to target Fibromyalgia support groups thinking this was my “in” to build a teaching practice.  After all, I was not a trained actress, musician or even a good athlete.  But I knew about pain.  I soon became disillusioned however, as the people in the support groups were not as enthusiastic or receptive as I was. They did not welcome AT with open arms as I had expected and planned on.  I joined an on-line Alexander Technique discussion group and to my dismay realized from the comments of other teachers that their experience with students with Fibromyalgia showed they did not get pain relief and had negative reports.  It left me questioning my aspirations and beliefs and wondering too if my experience had been a placebo effect.  Had I merely convinced myself that AT was the answer to my dilemma?  Was I only fooling myself into thinking this was the direction I needed to follow?

I can speak only of my own experience but I am certain that the Alexander Technique does help. It can be a difficult path to follow.  There are peaks of freedom from pain and valleys of depression and self doubt.  When I am distracted by discomfort, my muscles ache and throb and I am uncomfortable in my own skin, I now realize that these are passages to a newfound awareness, a stepping stone to better understanding of my unconscious baggage.  AT has given me hope that I won’t have to spend the rest of my life in chronic pain and I cherish those times I am pain free.  It helped me cope, knowing that to some degree, I could give myself relief by taking the necessary time to work on myself with my Alexander tools, laying in semi-supine, prone and crouch for lengthy periods of time.  With practice and faith in the Technique, pain free periods last much longer and painful episodes diminish quicker.  I realize that I have to take the time necessary for my body and my mind to accept and adjust to the necessary changes that I desperately need. 

I have realized that the slow process of working out emotional trauma and heartaches is a huge part of the vise grip that held me together and protected me, or so I thought.  The practice of letting go made me more aware of the pain that caused anguish in the first place.  I felt like I was back at square one and I came to realize that it was actually the beginning of a deeper level of awareness.   It was like peeling away layers of an onion, finding a new revelation with each shedding.   The more I became aware of the death grip I inflicted on my muscles and fascia I was convinced that it was a significant part of my self imposed unconscious tension that held me together.  It would have been easy to quit but I had no other sources of relief or alternatives to turn to. I wasn’t ready to give in or give up hope.  I had invested too much time and energy and I knew in my heart that the Technique was still the answer, I just needed to dig deeper and find the will to go forward.  Slow and gentle is the key with the emotional and physical unraveling that can take place.

I have come to the conclusion that people with Fibromyalgia tend to be hyper sensitive in many ways. Like the Princess and the Pea.   All of the students with Fibromyalgia that I have worked with experienced a crisis and give up even though the AT lesson had given them some relief.  I theorize that students get a glimmer of hope and relief from pain with lessons and then go home and do it instead of think it, hence causing more pain to their already overly sensitive musculature. It is disheartening to finally realize some relief from pain and then relapse. They do not work at it long enough to get over the hurdles. They are not ready to accept the fact that it is a life long process and certainly not a quick fix.

To think that you are even partly responsible for your own pain is a tough pill to swallow.  Most people do not to want to take that responsibility.  It’s too much work and they want a cure where there is not one.  Medical doctors do not know what causes Fibromyalgia and therefore can not adequately treat it.  Sufferers want a quick fix, not something they have to work at.  Our bodies didn’t get this way overnight and we cannot get lasting relief over night. But any relief is welcome along the way and keeps you invested.  I tell my students at our fist lesson that AT is not a cure; it is a tool for them to learn to help themselves, to survive the ups and downs of gradual progress and to learn the art of thinking and not doing.  To come to the realization that to some degree you have internalized your own emotional and physical pain and that you have the power and potential within yourself to unravel and redesign your own being can be the pinnacle in self actualization. 

I also experienced unexpected and surprising life altering bonuses along my journey for pain relief.  I have a genetic hearing loss and suffered from tinnitus but have learned to control it with AT. I also had exercise induced asthma and used an inhaler for many years. After learning to use myself in a new manner, I no longer use an inhaler and am able walk up hills and stairs without gasping for air. I have always had insomnia and now when I have trouble sleeping I practice my AT tools and it aids in the duration and quality of my sleep. Additionally, I found relief from excruciating headaches from Temporal Mandibular Joint Dysfunction (TMJ). But the most profound change is a new found spiritual awakening. Having realized the potential of quieting the voices that haunted me, to be in the present moment and the simply act of being and not doing.  I experience an awareness of my own energy, life force surging and vibrating throughout my body, a new found acquaintance with my spirit, separate, above and beyond my pain ridden body.  You do not know what treasures lay ahead of you and that are at your disposal with the Alexander Technique until you incorporate it into your life long journey.   What do you have to loose?   You have everything to gain.